WFU Lifelong Learner Series: Madmen, Medicine, and Monsters – The Science of Gothic Fiction

Madmen, Medicine and Monsters: The Science of Gothic Fiction

Beth Ann Way, PhD Tuesdays 10 am – 12 noon January 26 – March 1 WFU Brookstown Campus

In the 19^th century, science and the arts were not the “two cultures” that we think of today. Rather, they were fluid disciplines. We will read three major works of Gothic fiction from the 19^th century –  Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula, along with excerpts by scientists whose writings and discoveries influenced the novels’ composition. Far from being only fantastical and sensationalized tales, these novels show the immediate and pervasive influence of the scientific and medical thought of the time.

Class members should plan to purchase the following editions of the three books for this class, which are all in stock from the publisher, Broadview Press (http://www.broadviewpress.com), Amazon.com, or Barnesandnoble.com

1. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818 *Note: Dr. Way will lecture from this edition and not the later version published in 1831). Ed. D.L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf. 3rd Edition. Broadview Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781554811038
2. Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ed. Martin A. Danahay. 3rd Edition. Broadview Press, 2015. ISBN: 9781554810246
3. Bram Stoker, Dracula. Ed. Glennis Byron. Broadview Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781551111360

After completing an undergraduate degree at Wake Forest, Elizabeth Way received an MA in English Literary Studies at Durham University in England, and completed a PhD in English at the University of Georgia. Dr. Way has taught science fiction, introductory British core literature seminars, and upper-level and graduate English courses. She specializes in British Romanticism, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Gothic, and genre studies.